How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"'It terrified me to see it still there,' he said. That's what he said. What terrified him was the thought that the drowning was not over yet." (10.1)
Marlow zeroes in on Jim's real fears, or at least, what he thinks are Jim's real fears. In this moment, Marlow is stepping into Jim's head, and we can't be sure that our intrepid narrator isn't just putting words in the poor guy's mouth. After all, it's Jim's memory, not Marlow's.
Quote #8
"'Mon Dieu! how the time passes!' Nothing could have been more commonplace than this remark; but its utterance coincided for me with a moment of vision. It's extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. [...] Nevertheless, there can be but few of us who had never known one of those rare moments of awakening when we see, hear, understand ever so much – everything – in a flash – before we fall back again into our agreeable somnolence." (13.1)
Marlow thinks people sleepwalk through life, ignoring their own minds. But every once in a while, a person gets a grand old epiphany, and has a moment of true understanding. We know Marlow thinks Jim is a major sleepwalker, but do you think our young sailor will ever have an epiphany like the one Marlow is talking about? Is there hope for Jim to wake up and understand his own past?
Quote #9
"It would have been so much in accordance with the wisdom of life, which consists in putting out of sight all the reminders of our folly, of our weakness, of our mortality; all that makes against our efficiency – the memory of our failures, the hints of our undying fears, the bodies of our dear friends." (15.2)
When Marlow says this, it brings up a huge question for us readers: Would Jim be better off just sweeping his past under the rug and moving forward? Or would he be better off doing some intensive therapy to face his past, understand it, and learn from it? For much of the novel, he seems to opt for the former choice, but he never gets very far. But if he chooses the latter, won't that mean he is not "in accordance with the wisdom of life"?